


Careless Dreaming

by Likimeya



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Apocalypse, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-16
Updated: 2010-12-16
Packaged: 2017-10-13 16:57:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/139549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Likimeya/pseuds/Likimeya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The right ideas can ruin the world if planted in the wrong minds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Careless Dreaming

In the dim, artificial light in this nuclear winter, the air between the parched ground and the low-hanging black clouds looked murky and sickly yellowish like harbour water. The incessant wind was blowing flocks of ash and dust up the concrete canyons between the rubble heaps and the burnt-out husks of the neighbourhood’s buildings, the sight alone sickening and choking.

Arthur and his three teammates were standing on one of the few buildings in town that were still undamaged, looking out over the crumbled, smoking ruins of what had once been Ariadne’s adopted city, which was but a part of the larger ruin that was planet earth.

His team’s cherished architect was right beside Arthur, yet miles away as she was staring at her broken home. Tears were running down her cheeks, and in them were reflected the searchlights of a passing helicopter, the cold rays turning to golden sparks on her skin. She was the only thing of beauty in all this squalor, but even she was just a shadow of her former radiance; dulled by the same white-hot burning feeling of guilt and self-reproach with which all four of them struggled in addition to the grieve of having lost everything.

Arthur knew the thoughts that were raging through her troubled mind; he had been asking himself the same questions over and over:  
“How could I let it come this?  
Why did I not foresee this?  
Why were we so stupid and careless?”  
She had yearned to create dream worlds and they had turned to nightmares. She had become the architect of the apocalypse.

Before the tight feeling in his chest could become even more painful, Arthur tore his eyes away and turned to Yusuf, who was standing on his other side, eyes closed and making an effort to breathe evenly. Again Arthur did not need much imagination to know what was going through his head. Yusuf had asked his questions out loud more times than was healthy for any of them.  
“Why did I ever break my rule not to work in the field?  
Why did I make this first fatal exception?  
Why did I let money get the best of my better judgment?“  
He should never have left Mombasa and his cat, and he knew it.

And Eames? There was no need for Arthur to turn around to Eames behind him and look into his eyes to know that he was suffering from worse demons than any of them. In the end, it was Eames who had started it all by planting a seductive idea into their heads five years earlier, in a hotel suite in downtown L.A.

“So I believe this is a market gap… you know: inception. There are about a billion extractors out there, and many of them are very good at what they’re doing. But to this day I haven’t heard anybody call himself an inceptor. We could be the first and only team that specialises in this. I bet we’d drown in job offers!  
What do you say; do you think it’s worth trying? It wouldn’t make sense to stop and go home now that we’ve learned what is possible and what we are capable of, would it? Ariadne, your talent would be wasted in a studio. Yusuf, don’t you think this was fun? And Arthur, deep in your heart you know that you’re hopelessly addicted to this, don’t deny it. Come on, let’s give this a go! I know it will be marvellous. We are the best team there ever was. We will rock the world!”  
No wonder if Eames thought that he was alone responsible for the end of days.

But surely they were all of them equally to blame. For none of them had paused to think and remember what they had all been taught, and by their own former teammate and friend, no less:  
That an idea was a parasite that could devour a being whole; that it could grow like a cancer and transform its host into a single-minded base creature deformed beyond recognition.  
They had forgotten that a simple thought like “I will not resign” could grow into something monstrous like “I won’t ever stop”. That an idea like “I can do everything” might one day lead to “I will do _anything_ ”.  
They’d had to learn it all again, and this time the hard way. Take two or three marks in the world's most powerful positions, in the age of atomic warfare, who would do anything and never stop and voilà, the days are counted. And here they were, in the dust.

 

Arthur was pulled out of his brooding reverie when Ariadne let out a small sob. He would have liked to brush her cheek with his fingers, but what consolation was there to be had from him, who was as cursed as she was? Instead, Arthur put the PASIV down and started it. He stepped up beside Ariadne, needle in hand.

“What now?” she whispered.

Arthur closed his fist around the die in his right pocket.

“Now we go to sleep, and hope that this time we won’t wake up again.”


End file.
